Chapter 20 2.0

"They have wings now? They must be getting desperate," Max commented.

But we still have the upper hand in numbers.

Max unfurled her wings and jumped into the air, then into a mid-air fighting position. She hovered and raised her fists. "There are only a few, we can take them out easily."

"Wait! Max!" Angel yelled.

She slammed her fist right into the Eraser's jaw. His head whipped around but he seemed unaffected.

In response, he immediately sent a strong kick right into Max's stomach, which knocked her backward into Fang's arms and with the wind knocked out of her.

Angel hovered off to the side. "Max! The Erasers! I'm not getting anything from them! No emotions or anything!"

I confirmed her suspicions. "They're machines."

An Eraser turned around and lunged for me and I had to dip several feet in the air in order to avoid it.

"They're too strong!" Nudge yelled behind me as she took a kick in the back by a furry Eraser foot.

Now I get it…

"Guys!" I yelled, "They're attracted to sound!" I braced myself for a hit by an Eraser.

Fang nodded and the flock hesitantly decided to stay quiet never keeping their eyes off of them. They hovered in place being as still as they could.

Poor Nudge looked like she was about to explode.

Occasionally, the sound of flapping wings would bring an Eraser over but they cleverly dodged and even managed to stay silent.

Another Eraser neared and this time it was time to react. I brought my knee up under its chin propelling its head upward and Max kicked it off in cloud of nuts and bolts like a soccer player. Well, robo- beat up Eraser soccer.

The rest was like clockwork.

Iggy approached the second one from behind and knocked it off balance in the air. He kicked it downwards towards Nudge who distracted it and made noises until it clumsily landed into a tree. Angel was waiting there and slammed its head in with a large rock.

Fang soon destroyed the third one who had also followed Nudge with a swift punch, and perhaps with the help of one of Iggy's and Gazzy's smaller handmade bombs.

Gazzy punched the air. "Awesome!"

"There's probably more," Fang said quickly. "We shouldn't stay here."

Everyone nodded in reply, and we flew until the city was just another speck in the background.

"What were those things?" asked Nudge. She seemed shaken and scared.

"I think they're prototypes since there weren't that many," said Iggy. "They have their flaws."

"Yeah, but they're still tough." Max said while holding her bruised stomach where the Eraser had punched her. "Stay on the alert guys we don't want to run into any more of them."

Fang slowed down to coast next to me. "How did you know they were attracted to sound?"

I looked at him; his eyes were saying 'say the wrong thing and I'll kick your ass.'

I sighed, "Every time someone said something they turned around and attacked. They could have been attracted to movement too, but it would have to be large targets not your average bird or anything."

"Like a car?" Gazzy questioned.

"No way, then those Erasers would attack everything they see." Iggy snickered and looked at us. "They're blind." For once, he wasn't the only one.

Gazzy crossed his arms. "Well then there must be some way they're able to lock on to us."

Angel looked nervous and Max was silent throughout the flight. "Maybe it's the chip?" She spoke finally.

The flock held in their gasps and looked down.

"Chip?"

"Max has a chip in her arm; apparently it was put there when she was really young," said Nudge.

"Oh…" I should have expected such things.

"But wouldn't that mean we would all have one?" Angel did bring up a good point.

"If we all had one, they would of probably used it for something else by now."

After the conversation had ended, our attention turned to the abandoned city we just crossed over into.

"Creepy," said Gazzy as he looked at the scene below us.

The skeletons of tall skyscrapers stood vacantly as moss and vines grew up their frames. There weren't any windows and you could see there were creatures nesting inside. What used to be road had cracked in many places, and dandelions were rising in between them. Leaves scattered the ground from the new growing trees. Frames of what used to be cars lined the streets as if they had been abandoned in a hurry years ago.

"Wow, how is old is this place?" Angel wondered curiously.

Max surveyed the ground below us. "No idea, I wonder what happened here."

We landed in a not so green part of the street to take a look around. It was getting dark already and despite the eeriness of the situation it was a safe place to sleep. No people around or anything. On top of that, this place lasted forever.

Nudge's stomach growled loudly and she furrowed her brow. "I'm hungry Max."

Iggy got on his knees and his hands went to his pack. "So am I, let's cook something."

Fang made a fire and we all sat down around it cooking hotdogs on a stick.

"I wonder if nuclear radiation from a bomb made everyone leave the city," said Gazzy who elaborated on his theory. "During World War I a bomb must of exploded nearby. It was a small one though but this city got the worst of it and they had to evacuate."

"We didn't see any real wreckage on the way here," said Angel, "Just what's left of this place." She took a bite of her hot dog and grabbed another.

Iggy grinned evilly. "Alien attack."

Max rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous."

I took a small bite of my blackened hotdog. It didn't taste so good.

"You never know, they can erase memories," he pointed at his head when he said this.

I reached for another. I must have cooked it to long.

Nudge was gulping down her hotdogs religiously. "How about a monster like Godzilla, or King Kong, or maybe Fangazor?" She said in between bites. She laughed and almost made herself choke. Fang glared.

"The Nudge channel on stereo," he said slowly.

Iggy burst into laughter. "Haha that would scare anyone away."

"Maybe we should try it in our next Eraser attack," Max suggested.

"How do you cook this thing?" I held up my charred hotdog and everyone laughed again.

They had their backs to the overgrown bush they didn't see it, the shadow.

"Guys!" I felt a sharp pain suddenly on the back of my head and then the world started slowly fading. I could see the Flock as they fell forward also. Something soft brushed my face and then… nothing.